TOYS. I've been in a steady relationship with "the hobby" for many years now. This blog is an attempt to rediscover MY hobby and provide motivation to paint MY toys and play MY games. The topics may wander to rugby, cricket and the x-box but feel free to skip those bit if you wish........ either of you :)

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Friday, 31 August 2012

Getting down to the distasteful business of packing up my toys and paints I realised that I have now fully painted up the DW French starter box fleet so here you are and I'm well pleased with them. I also have the Toulon Cruisers and the subs done but the Ecuyer Cruisers didn't quite make it so not a fully painted project just yet!

Two heavy flyers and six more destroyers nets me another 10 Painting Points though these will be the last until I get myself re-established which may take a little while.

Until that time I'll concentrate on gaming and have selected a few sets of figures to leave at the club for ease. Space-Hulk, Dystopian, Mordheim, Gladiators, the Oni and a portion of the AWI / TAM stuff plus whatever else I blag in onto. Re-establishing roleplay is another option.

As with every move I've had something of a clear-out and its quite scary how heavily I've "hobby-slimmed" over the last few years with the painted percentage rising substantially. This has also radically reduced my current projects list and the upside is that it'll let me reset somewhat.

Once I'm back up and running I can see my SAGA LOTR Orcs getting some time along with the AWI / TAM stuff. The break may just have saved me from the 40K infestation as odds are that I won't get reestablished until the end of the club's campaign.

Saturday, 25 August 2012

Just a quick one as I managed to find some time this afternoon to get some paint on my DW French Voltaire heavy flyers.
In the end it was much easier to follow the tiny flyers scheme through than I thought it might be.

Possibly a little bit simple but I'm more than happy with them and the contrast that the whole air aim provides against the surface fleet.
They need a bit of highlight and the bases sorting out, along with the Marseilles cruisers, but they're almost there.

Meanwhile the final six destroyers have just been washed and I've built and sprayed my Ecuyer squadron. Very keen to get this project finished before the enforced break that will be brought by moving.

Thursday, 23 August 2012

Well that didn't take very long........﻿ The paypal account is now empty as impulse drew me in to picking up three AT-43 Oni Tac-Arms,or should that be Nurgle Terminator proxies to go with the three I already have which is just one away from the sacred number if you remember that sort of thing.

It was only after I parted with my virtual folding that it occurred to me that rather than outing the Dark Angels of the Dark Vengeance set that I'm still wary of buying I could use them as fallen modelling on various degrees of plague / rust / ruin etc.

Once again the froth seems to be building and my mind has gone into over-drive as to how I could put together a Nurgle cult force for a game that I'd apparently decided that I'd never touch again with any form of bargepole :/

One option, which my wallet seems to be following already, is to pick up some Oni vehicle support via E-Bay as and when bits come up. About the same price as GW bu pre-built and block coloured I also really like the look / design of them.

Got one of these in Green / Sand washed and weathered sporting Tau decals for a Manga look. Fluff would be a rogue Bio-Engineered super-soldier project turned fully to Father Nurgle.

The APC would work nicely as a Rhino or Chimera and being non GW would allow me to go either way to field alternative list via use / abuse of ALLIES.

Got one of these to but done nothing with it. To be honest I find the cannon somewhat oversized but I'm sure I can shorten the barrel without a problem.

Could easily run as a Russ, Basilisk, Predator or Vindicator. Possibly even as something particularly funky from the Forgeworld garage. Could add some of their secondary weapon kits.

Haven't got one of these or it's ramapaging owner but I'm very sure I'd like to! All sorts of options as a command or scout vehicle whilst the man himself could be good as a lesser Lord or warped Psyker type.

Combined with a possible swap-out of the Dark Angels with a willing participant and I have a substatial sized Sci-Fi army of grizzled scumbags willing to invade any set or rules you might like to profer.

It does occur that I might like to look at possible army lists at some point. Dodgy PDFs of the current Chaos and Gaurd codexes would be next I suppose followed by the new Chaos Codex whenever it appears.

Not sure if there's any form of Traitor Gaurd codex knocking about. I'm sure Google will let me know :)

Tuesday, 21 August 2012

I am potentially moving abode in the near-ish future and as such I've recently E-Bay'd the outstanding painted Orcs. Didn't get as much as I'd hoped but nothing terrible. The built and basecoated ones may follow just as they are as I'd rather not put the time and effort in for minimal return.

So there is a few quid knocking about in PayPal burning the metaphorical pocket.

And with 40K running ever stronger down at Enfield Gamers one potential purchase may be the upcoming Dark Vengeance boxed set. The apparent £65 felt a bit stinging but then I got sight of the figures involved and OH MY GOD!! Double 6 on a morale check and run for the credit card!

As if by the design of the ruinous powers themselves the chaos force is probably just what I would have been looking at to blend in with my AT-43 Oni zombie types to form a Nurgle cult army.

I haven't got any spare sprues anymore but I'm sure I could make do with the greatest of ease as I'd probably out the Dark Angels. September 1st suddenly looms large though I'd just have to pack it away which might not be the worst idea as that way I already had it when I arrived if you know what I mean :)

Still feel wary about the whole thing but there you go. Once bitten twice shy but there you go.

Thursday, 2 August 2012

Well I think its part III but it's taken so long that I honestly can't remember.

More importantly I've finished the Masrseille Cruisers the Epulard Submarines and the last five stand of tiny flyers for a total of 15 Painting Points and seem to have got back into a bit of a rythem with the brush.

Same scheme carried through, which I'm now more than happy with, though basing reared it's head with this batch. TO be honest I made something of a mess of the cruiser bases during construction so I've resorted to a coat of black which I'll now have to carry through the rest of the fleet.

The subs came with contoured bases which I've left simple rather than going for the apparently fashionable extreme higlight "A Perfect Storm" look. I did drybrush up through a few mid blues over a base of Regal finishing with a touch of Shadow Grey. A wash of Green and then thinned Blue found the result that I was after :)

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

Good evening one and all.
First off I am pleased to report that I am physically recovered from various bouts of the lurgy.

As I've blogged repeatedly I've been slowly preparing to finally definitely cut the cord on GW and other than holding onto Mordheim, Necromunda and Blood Bowl finally turn my back on their games systems and continue my hobby life in blissful ignorance of whatever they wave at the masses in the future.

So a strange thing happened at the club tonight......I played a 500 point game of 6th Edition 40K.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when Rich picked up a discounted semi-whim copy via a contact who assured him it was definitely worth a go. From there a few of the guys blew dust off figures and codexes and suddenly a 500pt campaign was being touted.

Last week I looked on with interest before playing a game of Zombies!!! noting a few interesting mechanic changes and an apparent shift towards firepower over assault. This week there was no "escape route" and I borrowed Shaun's Marines to take on Nick's Imperial Guard.

Having watched Nick floor Shaun with "1st rank, 2nd rank" fire across an open plain I first placed as much scenery as possible to limit lines of fire [like the scenery deployment rules] and then took advantage of deploying second to deploy everything far left.

Early doors I did incredibly well at losing my Devastator squad to incredibly poor dice rolls whilst wondering why I bothered to hide them in a wood [no cover save if you have your normal armour save]. The few frag missiles that I did kick out weren't overly effective as all blast markers automatically scatter [though I quite like the BS modifier thing]. It did leave me feeling apprehensive for Ork players :/

Thankfully Nick's Master of Ordnance was even more inaccurate though the appearance of Sly Marbo spelt plenty of marine death. He was at least good enough to take himself out in the blast though

After that mobile short-range rapid-firing bolters proved their effectiveness and carried the day for me. Another nice touch is bonus victory points for claiming first blood, killing the enemy commander and moving into the enemy deployment zone. Cool sort of side-plot thing.

Haven't played any of the other scenarios, fairly obviously, but I've heard nothing but good things. Sceptical as I was keen to be on one 500pt game everything flows well. "Cinematic" is a phrase I've heard thrown about amongst the blurb / froth and that's the feel I got.

Scarily I found myself discussing the upcoming starter set with mini-rulebook, no way I'm coughing £45, and how the chaos figures would fit in well with the Oni and GI figures I already have. Could really go for a Nurgle / zombie cultist theme...........slippery slope?

I did grasp at the straw of being unhappy at paying £25 for a codex only to be referred to and offered one of many knock off PDFs.

Just when I thought I was out...........I find myself pulling myself back in!!